Magnetic

Chapter Five

Making friends was something that scared the heck out of me.

    Actually, that was a complete and utter understatement.

    Because I had been in the same private school system since I began my educational career—kindergarten through my junior year of high school—I knew everyone at my school and never had to leave my comfort zone in order to make new friends. I was acquainted with everybody in the grade above me and a good amount of the grades below. I had always been aware that public schools had a significantly larger student population than private schools, which was the main reason that I had wanted to go to one of the private schools over in Monraville, but my father would not allow it. He told me that I had family at West Cliff High School, and family was the reason why we were moving there in the first place.

    Even if Gage had gone to a private school, I feel like my father would still force me to go to a public one.

    When he told me about the move, he introduced it more as a random question, saying, "How would you feel about living in West Cliff?" or "Is moving closer to our family something that you would like to do?" He'd try to make it appear as if it was my decision and my decision solely, but I was smarter than that, knowing he had already decided on our fate before even bringing up the subject of it to me.

    When I initially rejected the idea, he seemed somewhat shocked, and the lack of a reason why would confuse me for the rest of my life. Of course I wouldn't think fondly of the idea of leaving the one place I'd ever known as home.

    "I think it'd be the best thing for us to do. Not even for just the two of us, but for our whole family," he told me, messing with his prematurely-graying hair as he usually did when he was at a dead end and couldn't think of anything else to say. This was after I had come up with a strong and lengthy list of reasons why moving to West Cliff would be not just a bad, but an awful idea. "You know Nana's health isn't what we want it to be."
    "I know," I replied, keeping my head down low, not wanting to look him in the eye.  So instead, I focused on a loose thread hanging from a seam on my comforter. "But if I am forced against my will to move, can I at least go to a private school there?"
    He alerted me that there wasn't a private school in West Cliff, but there were a couple in the town over, meaning I'd have to drive about forty-five minutes just to get to school. Because he also refused to pay for tuition, he told me that I'd have to come up with the necessary funds. We both knew there was no way that I'd be able to afford it, even with every cent I had earned waiting tables at the country buffet down the street called Cracker Shack. My best friend, Justine, and I had had worked there since the beginning of the summer because it was the perfect job for us. We loved the food there and could take home everything we didn't sell at the end of the day. It didn't pay very well, just minimum wage, but we still adored it.

    All my saved Cracker Shack money wasn't enough for even half of a semester of tuition at the cheapest private school in Monraville. Because I'd still have to pay for the gas that was needed for me to get there and back, the private schools didn't seem like an option for me.

    Being forced into a small town school consisting of a bunch of people that I didn't know wasn't a situation that I'd ever imagine myself in. I had always thought that I'd finish my high school career at NYCCA (New York City Christian Academy), graduate, and then go to NYU. Leaving New York wasn't an idea I had ever been fond of, especially because everything you'd ever need and want was there; there was no reason for us to ever leave.

    There was no reason until my dad walked into my bedroom three and a half weeks before winter break, proposing that we move to West Cliff.

    I was willing to admit that West Cliff was a cute town. It was very westernized, with farms and horses and cattle, the things you'd expect to see in the Western United States. It was very novelty due to how stereotypical it was, making it feel like I was on vacation every time I visited.